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forum threadFreebiesRGreat posted Jun 03, 2008 02:50 AM
forum threadFreebiesRGreat posted Jun 03, 2008 02:50 AM

Contests & Sweepstakes Tips, Advice, and Questions

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The intent of this thread is for users, both new and not-so-new, to ask questions, and help with tips/advice. This is not by any means the "gospel". Please feel free to add your words of wisdom, and if you have questions, just ask! If you have a tip that will make sweeping easier for folks, please feel free to share. This is a community effort. We all will benefit in some way.


The Basic Advice/Tips for the new-to-sweeping folks.
Enter for the items you want/need. If you have no interest in trips, avoid the sweeps where the only prize is a trip. If you know you can't afford the tax on a new vehicle, avoid entering for those.

Set up folders in your bookmark/favorites. Create a separate one for each month, and file any sweeps you are interested in into the folder corresponding with when it ends. Then, if you have a day where you're pressed for time, enter at least the ones ending that day.

Play the instant win games.

Follow the rules! If a sweep is restricted to only females, a certain age group, certain states, etc, make sure you fit the criteria! If you don't, move on to another sweep that you do qualify for. Do not create a bunch of email addresses so you can enter something more than once, or so you can play an Instant win game more. The Sponsors can tell, and will DQ you. You're better off playing by the rules than cheating and getting disqualified and having NO entries.

Don't immediately dismiss essay required sweeps (or recipes, photos, etc)....well, unless you know you don't want to write something. A lot of people pass on them, so you might have a better shot at winning something.

Don't expect this to be lucrative enough to become a job. Yes, a lot of us win, and often, but not nearly enough to quit a job!

Expect things to go slow at first. It takes a while for the wins to roll in. But once they do...look out!

Expect to occasionally hit a dry spell. It happens to ALL of us.

DEFINITELY USE YOUR REAL INFO! If you use a fake phone number, and a sponsor is calling to notify people of wins, you'll never know what you missed out on. I, and many others, have been doing this for a long time, and we have no problems with sales calls. Also, use your real name. If your name is Robert or Catherine, using Bob or Cathy is ok, as they are known acceptable shorter versions of that name. if your name is Matilda, and you go by Fluffy, don't use Fluffy. Looking at your ID to get an affy notarized, they may reject it because the names don't match. The sponsor may also say "Fluffy won, not Matilda". So stick with using your real name, or something close to it.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! And don't be afraid to ask questions. We were all new to this at one time. Any one of us would be happy to answer questions.


For easy form filling, check out Roboform [roboform.com]. Google Tool bar and the autofill feature on IE also work well.

For Mac users, the best form filler is 1Password: http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password (thanks javaFlower!)

FireFox Form Filler browser extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/...ll&cat=all

To set up the autofill feature in IE: Click on Tools, then internet options, then choose 'content'. When that pops up, click on "Autocomplete", and make sure to check the boxes for forms and passwords on forms. This is not a good idea if you are on a shared/public computer!

February 17, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

July 12, 2010, 3:23 pm: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
The intent of this thread is for users, both new and not-so-new, to ask questions, and help with tips/advice. This is not by any means the "gospel". Please feel free to add your words of wisdom, and if you have questions, just ask! If you have a tip that will make sweeping easier for folks, please feel free to share. This is a community effort. We all will benefit in some way.


The Basic Advice/Tips for the new-to-sweeping folks.
Enter for the items you want/need. If you have no interest in trips, avoid the sweeps where the only prize is a trip. If you know you can't afford the tax on a new vehicle, avoid entering for those.

Set up folders in your bookmark/favorites. Create a separate one for each month, and file any sweeps you are interested in into the folder corresponding with when it ends. Then, if you have a day where you're pressed for time, enter at least the ones ending that day.

Play the instant win games.

Follow the rules! If a sweep is restricted to only females, a certain age group, certain states, etc, make sure you fit the criteria! If you don't, move on to another sweep that you do qualify for. Do not create a bunch of email addresses so you can enter something more than once, or so you can play an Instant win game more. The Sponsors can tell, and will DQ you. You're better off playing by the rules than cheating and getting disqualified and having NO entries.

Don't immediately dismiss essay required sweeps (or recipes, photos, etc)....well, unless you know you don't want to write something. A lot of people pass on them, so you might have a better shot at winning something.

Don't expect this to be lucrative enough to become a job. Yes, a lot of us win, and often, but not nearly enough to quit a job!

Expect things to go slow at first. It takes a while for the wins to roll in. But once they do...look out!

Expect to occasionally hit a dry spell. It happens to ALL of us.

DEFINITELY USE YOUR REAL INFO! If you use a fake phone number, and a sponsor is calling to notify people of wins, you'll never know what you missed out on. I, and many others, have been doing this for a long time, and we have no problems with sales calls. Also, use your real name. If your name is Robert or Catherine, using Bob or Cathy is ok, as they are known acceptable shorter versions of that name. if your name is Matilda, and you go by Fluffy, don't use Fluffy. Looking at your ID to get an affy notarized, they may reject it because the names don't match. The sponsor may also say "Fluffy won, not Matilda". So stick with using your real name, or something close to it.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! And don't be afraid to ask questions. We were all new to this at one time. Any one of us would be happy to answer questions.


For easy form filling, check out Roboform [roboform.com]. Google Tool bar and the autofill feature on IE also work well.

For Mac users, the best form filler is 1Password: http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password (thanks javaFlower!)

FireFox Form Filler browser extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/...ll&cat=all

To set up the autofill feature in IE: Click on Tools, then internet options, then choose 'content'. When that pops up, click on "Autocomplete", and make sure to check the boxes for forms and passwords on forms. This is not a good idea if you are on a shared/public computer!

February 17, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

July 12, 2010, 3:23 pm: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

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Feb 24, 2013 06:58 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMAFeb 24, 2013 06:58 PM
6,323 Posts
UPS delivery notice from sender NORDSTROM 236 OUTBOUND - does this look familiar to anyone? I remember entering a couple of Nordstrom sweeps (the wedding one on Pinterest with daily entries and one where you review a product on their site), but one didn't require an address and I don't know if the other one did. Does anyone remember another Nordstrom giveaway that might have included a form to input a mailing address?
Feb 24, 2013 08:07 PM
13,686 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
heyjupiterFeb 24, 2013 08:07 PM
13,686 Posts
Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)
Feb 24, 2013 08:32 PM
6,059 Posts
Joined Jul 2012
ChrisB65Feb 24, 2013 08:32 PM
6,059 Posts
Quote from heyjupiter :
Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)
I've won a lot more single entry sweeps than daily entry sweeps. The best ones are the single entry with a lot of prizes, you have better odds of winning something and you have the same odds as everyone else. I have won plenty of daily entries, but not nearly as many as the single entry. The ones that I hate are the Facebook sweeps that give you one or more additional entries for referrals, you know that there are people out there with multiple Facebook accounts referring themselves and/or posting referral links on this and other sweeps sites, and I've seen some sweeps that give you as many as 20 additional entries for each referral. Every time I enter one of those and see the referral link after entering, I know my odds of winning just went down exponentially.
Feb 24, 2013 08:35 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMAFeb 24, 2013 08:35 PM
6,323 Posts
Quote from heyjupiter :
Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)
Another one of my "it depends" answers. But honestly it depends on a few variables; your best chances with those are:

1. When held on sites, like blogs or Facebook posts, with low-exposure, so fewer entrants with which to compete. For instance, today I won from a blog that was single-entry. One requirement was to like her on FB - she has less than 200 likes.
2. When the entry period is short - that goes without saying: the longer the entry period, the more likely it will have a large number of entrants.
3. When held on less popular (for sweeping) social networks like Pinterest and Instagram and even Twitter. It's only been since November that I've been entering daily and for several hours each day (with the exception of my current hiatus) and of my wins last year (within a 2 month period) I won once from Pinterest and twice from Twitter with single-entries.

Looking at my wins from this year (1/1 through today), of the 45+ I've won (I've recorded only 45, because I skip wins like wallpaper), at least 15 were from single-entries. Here's the breakdown:

Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted 24 hours or less - 5
Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted greater than 24 hours - 8
Single entry from one posted here that lasted less than 24 hours - 1
Single entry from one posted here that lasted a week - 1
Feb 24, 2013 08:43 PM
13,686 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
heyjupiterFeb 24, 2013 08:43 PM
13,686 Posts
Quote from ChrisB65 :
I've won a lot more single entry sweeps than daily entry sweeps. The best ones are the single entry with a lot of prizes, you have better odds of winning something and you have the same odds as everyone else. I have won plenty of daily entries, but not nearly as many as the single entry. The ones that I hate are the Facebook sweeps that give you one or more additional entries for referrals, you know that there are people out there with multiple Facebook accounts referring themselves and/or posting referral links on this and other sweeps sites, and I've seen some sweeps that give you as many as 20 additional entries for each referral. Every time I enter one of those and see the referral link after entering, I know my odds of winning just went down exponentially.
Thanks for your reply. I had (key word HAD) a lot of sweeping buddies on FB that I sent referrals to, but never won any of those referral sweeps. (Yes i need to changd my siggy... i dont do the referral thing on fb anymore). Somehow I think that all my referring was doing was getting a lot more people to enter and not really helping my odds overall (yes these were sweeps posted here on SD but most of my sweeping buddies were found elsewhere and weren't SD regulars, and based on who liked what FB page, my guess was that a lot of the sweeps posted here arent getting posted on other sweeping sites.). I think at the very least I need to cut my daily entries waay down. I love sweeping, it's just that it becomes a drag when I must enter every day and if I don't, whoops there go my odds... Plus I got hooked when I had a lot of downtime.... Now, not so much lol
Feb 24, 2013 09:10 PM
13,686 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
heyjupiterFeb 24, 2013 09:10 PM
13,686 Posts
Quote from KMA :
Another one of my "it depends" answers. But honestly it depends on a few variables; your best chances with those are:

1. When held on sites, like blogs or Facebook posts, with low-exposure, so fewer entrants with which to compete. For instance, today I won from a blog that was single-entry. One requirement was to like her on FB - she has less than 200 likes.
2. When the entry period is short - that goes without saying: the longer the entry period, the more likely it will have a large number of entrants.
3. When held on less popular (for sweeping) social networks like Pinterest and Instagram and even Twitter. It's only been since November that I've been entering daily and for several hours each day (with the exception of my current hiatus) and of my wins last year (within a 2 month period) I won once from Pinterest and twice from Twitter with single-entries.

Looking at my wins from this year (1/1 through today), of the 45+ I've won (I've recorded only 45, because I skip wins like wallpaper), at least 15 were from single-entries. Here's the breakdown:

Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted 24 hours or less - 5
Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted greater than 24 hours - 8
Single entry from one posted here that lasted less than 24 hours - 1
Single entry from one posted here that lasted a week - 1
How do you go about finding decent blog contests? I refuse to enter the rafflecopter ones that give you a ton of entries because its not worth my time when there are over 200k entries for one prize. (And it seems that a lot of blogs use rafflecopter)
Feb 24, 2013 09:30 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMAFeb 24, 2013 09:30 PM
6,323 Posts
Quote from heyjupiter :
How do you go about finding decent blog contests? I refuse to enter the rafflecopter ones that give you a ton of entries because its not worth my time when there are over 200k entries for one prize. (And it seems that a lot of blogs use rafflecopter)
I don't even bother with the ones that require too much for one-item giveaways. I don't mind rafflecopter as long as you don't have to like/follow 10 different Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest accounts. Frown In fact, I like that I can tweet daily (tweeting, pinning, etc.), because my belief is that the average blog-reader doesn't remember to enter again.

A good way to find blogs is to follow your favorite companies on FB and/or Twitter. When they partner with a blogger to do a giveaway, they often post about it. I now follow some pretty interesting bloggers who offer posts that appeal to me. One of my recent wins came from a blog I'd followed as a result of such a giveaway. While I didn't win that initial giveaway, I was interested enough to keep the blog in my feed and I ended up winning another giveaway from there.

You can also do searches of items you'd like to win. For example, I came across a line of skincare that I wanted to try; it was being given away on a blog. I went to Twitter and did a keyword search of that line and found other bloggers doing giveaways of this same line. I ended up winning one of those giveaways - it had a lower number of entries than the one that I'd first encountered (the one that led me to seek out other such giveaways). The value of that was $530.

ETA: beware of blogs that are review-based. Those are in the business reviewing products and then giving away those products; they're highly advertised, have lots of entrants, require a lot of actions (liking/following, etc.), and often partner with other such bloggers. You don't have a snowball's chance in hell for those. The best blogs are ones that have the occasional giveaway, but giveaways aren't their main reason for blogging; those have fewer entrants and less "professional sweepers" following them.
Last edited by KMA February 24, 2013 at 01:35 PM.

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Feb 24, 2013 09:33 PM
13,686 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
heyjupiterFeb 24, 2013 09:33 PM
13,686 Posts
Quote from KMA :
I don't even bother with the ones that require too much for one-item giveaways. I don't mind rafflecopter as long as you don't have to like/follow 10 different Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest accounts. Frown In fact, I like that I can tweet daily (tweeting, pinning, etc.), because my belief is that the average blog-reader doesn't remember to enter again.

A good way to find blogs is to follow your favorite companies on FB and/or Twitter. When they partner with a blogger to do a giveaway, they often post about it. I now follow some pretty interesting bloggers who offer posts that appeal to me. One of my recent wins came from a blog I'd followed as a result of such a giveaway. While I didn't win that initial giveaway, I was interested enough to keep the blog in my feed and I ended up winning another giveaway from there.

You can also do searches of items you'd like to win. For example, I came across a line of skincare that I wanted to try; it was being given away on a blog. I went to Twitter and did a keyword search of that line and found other bloggers doing giveaways of this same line. I ended up winning of those those - it had a lower number of entries than the one that I'd first encountered (the one that led me to seek out other such giveaways). The value of that was $530.
Thanks for the tips.
Feb 24, 2013 09:44 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeFeb 24, 2013 09:44 PM
118,455 Posts
Back from College Gameday in Lexington (spent 14+ hours on the road)...you might think that is unrelated to contests. For the most part that is true. However, I did spend the two $50 shell gas cards I won from facebook sweeps. Also, I spend my choice rewards points from the Holiday Inn promo for a FREE nights stay. Saving $250 really helped make things happen.
Feb 25, 2013 12:22 AM
1,216 Posts
Joined Jul 2010
halah2272Feb 25, 2013 12:22 AM
1,216 Posts
Quote from angelsolo3 :
Does anyone believe in good karma for posting contests? I have not won anything yet this year. I did pretty well last year and the year before. I have really increased posting sweeps (mostly for things that I really want!). Many of these are somewhat obscure that maybe people would not find without my posting it. Sometimes I want to keep them to myself but I never do because I hope the contest karma will pay off. Is it common to see smaller sweeps and not post them if you want to win them badly yourself? I'm not planning on doing that because I still hope it will pay off...

Happy sweeping!
I don't have to worry about that usually because I'm always amazed at how fast sweeps go up on here..sometimes I find one that's just started and get excited to post it only to come on here and find someone posted it days or weeks before I try (haha) They must have psychic sweeps ability or something!
Feb 25, 2013 04:03 PM
293 Posts
Joined Jan 2008
angelsolo3Feb 25, 2013 04:03 PM
293 Posts
Quote from halah2272 :
I don't have to worry about that usually because I'm always amazed at how fast sweeps go up on here..sometimes I find one that's just started and get excited to post it only to come on here and find someone posted it days or weeks before I try (haha) They must have psychic sweeps ability or something!
I agree! I always feel like I have found a great one and it has been up for hours already.
Feb 25, 2013 04:12 PM
6,889 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
SwampStomperFeb 25, 2013 04:12 PM
6,889 Posts
Quote from robonero954 :
Has anybody won a MyCokeRewards Sweepstakes? (not instant win). If so, how long did it take for you to receive your prize?
Pretty sure you can track your MCR prizes on the web site. Click on your account and look under "Current Sweepstakes" or "Wheres My". I don't have that option, but I have not won anything lately. When I was expecting something, it was there. You have to bring up the month and year it was won as it is listed monthly.
Feb 26, 2013 09:56 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeFeb 26, 2013 09:56 PM
118,455 Posts
I want to cry, internet was down from 10:30 last night unti now...I'm so behind. Darned snow.
Feb 27, 2013 09:49 PM
2,930 Posts
Joined Nov 2007
Tyler1986Feb 27, 2013 09:49 PM
2,930 Posts
What I do is I have folders of bookmarks for dailies titles Dailies 1, Dailies 2, etc. I put prizes I'm more interested in the top folders so if I don't have time to enter all my dailies (which I don't always) I'm still getting entered in the prizes I value most.

How does everyone enter single entries? I just enter them the day before they expire, so I'm entering the 28th today and I just search for them in this forum. Most days is 25-50 and holidays are higher as are the first and last of the month, but I've NEVER seen as many as tomorrow, there are 286 contests ending tomorrow.

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Feb 27, 2013 10:09 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMAFeb 27, 2013 10:09 PM
6,323 Posts
Quote from Tyler1986 :
How does everyone enter single entries? I just enter them the day before they expire, so I'm entering the 28th today and I just search for them in this forum. Most days is 25-50 and holidays are higher as are the first and last of the month, but I've NEVER seen as many as tomorrow, there are 286 contests ending tomorrow.
Normally, each day I enter all, or most of, the newly posted sweeps. Because I'm doing this late at night, after I'm done with all the ones bookmarked, my brain isn't at it's best. So, for the ones that require thought/creativity, like some Pinterest ones, I bookmark to do later - those I do early in the day..

I took off several days, to try to regain some sanity (sorry, it was unsuccessful - I think sanity will forever elude me Stick Out Tongue), so I'm pretty far behind. For this reason I've started where I left off and working my way to the most recent posts. I did search for ones expiring on those days, but I missed a few because they'd either ended earlier in the day (not the usual 11:59 PM ET) or ended the day before.

The reason I don't do as you do (wait until the day before expiration), is because sometimes people don't post the dates and/or post the incorrect dates. I prefer to go in the order posted, so I don't miss any. In other words, I don't go by category, but rather by date posted. Sometimes people post in HD and there's no sweeps category icon next to it; instead, there's usually another kind of category, so those could get missed if you're sorting by "other," "instant," etc. It just makes me feel a little chaotic when I'm going by category and not by date posted.

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